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Practical Farming
Component parts of Soil.
The principal component parts of the soil, whatever may be the color, are clay, lime, sand, water, and air. The primitive earths, argil, lime, and sand, contain each, perhaps in nearly equal degrees, the food of plants; but in their union the purposes of vegetation are most completely answered. The precise quantities of each necessary to make this union perfect, and whether they ought to be equal, it is not very easy to ascertain, since that point is best determined in practice, when the soil proves to be neither too stiff nor adhesive, from the superabundance of clay, nor of too loose and weak a texture, from an over quantity of sand in its composition. The medium is undoubtedly best; but an excess towards adhesion is obviously most safe. A stiff or strong soil holds the water which falls upon it for a long time, and, being capable of much ploughing, is naturally well qualified for carrying the most valuable arable crops. A light sod, or one of a texture feeble and easily broken, is, on the contrary, soon exhausted by aration, and requires renovation by grass; or otherwise it cannot be cultivated to advantage.
To distinguish Clayey Soils.
A clayey soil, though distinguished by the color which it bears, namely black, white, yellow, and red, differs from all other soils, being tough, wet, and cold, and consequently requiring a good deal of labor from the husbandman before it can be sufficiently pulverized, or placed in a state for bearing artificial crops of corn or grass. Clay land is known by the following qualities, or properties. It holds water like a cup, and once wetted does not soon dry. In like manner, when thoroughly dry, it is not soon wetted; if we except the varieties which have a thin surface, and are the worst of all to manage. In a dry summer, clay cracks and shows a surface full of small chinks, or openings. If ploughed in a wet state, it sticks to the plough like mortar, and in a dry summer, the plough turns it up in great clods, scarcely to be broken or separated by the heaviest roller.
To manage Sandy Soils.
Soils of this description are managed with infinitely less trouble, and at an expense greatly inferior to what clays require; but at the same time, the crops produced from them are generally of smaller value. There are many varieties of sand, however, as well as of clay; and in some parts of the country, the surface is little better than a bare barren sand, wherein artificial plants will not take root unless a dose of clay or good earth is previously administered. This is not the soil meant by the farmer when he speaks of sands. To speak practically, the soil meant is one where sand is predominant, although there be several other earths in the mixture. From containing a great quantity of sand, these soils are all loose and crumbling, and never get into a clcd, even in the driest weather. This is the great article of distinction betwixt sand and sandy loams. A sandy loam, owing to the clay that is in it, does not crumble down, or become loose like a real sand, but retains a degree of adhesion after wetness or drought, notwithstanding the quantity of sand that is mixed with it. Perhaps a true sandy loam, incumbent upon a sound subsoil, is the most valuable of all soils. Upon such, every kind of grain may be raised with advantage, and no soil is better calculated for turnips and grass.
The real sands are not favorable to the growth of wheat, unless when preceded by clover, which binds the surface, and confers a temporary strength for sustaining that grain. Much of the county of Norfolk, in England, is of this description; and it is well known that few districts of the kingdom yield a greater quantity of produce. Till Norfolk, however, was invigorated by clay and marl, nearly one-half of it was little better than waste; but by the success which accompanied the use of these auxiliaries, a new soil was in a manner created; which, by a continuation of judicious management, has given a degree of fame to the husbandry of that country, far surpassing that of other districts naturally more fertile. Gravelly Soils.
The open porous nature of these soils disposes them to imbibe moisture, and to part with it with great facility: from the latter of which circumstances they are subject to burn, as it is termed, in dry seasons. The main difference between gravel and sand is, that the former is chiefly composed of small soft stones; though in some instances the stones are of a silicious or flinty nature, and, in others, of the calcareous or chalky. From these constitutional circumstances arises the propriety of deepening gravelly soils by coats of marl or earth, and of keeping them fresh by frequent returns of grass, and repeated applications of manure. Gravelly soils, from the lightness of their texture, are not expensive or difficult in the means of cultivation. All the necessary business required for gravels may be carried forward with ease and expedition; and such soils are, in general, soon brought into a proper state for the reception of crops. The constitutional qualities of gravels point out the propriety of ploughing them deep, so that the surface soil may be augmented, and greater room given to the growth of the plants cultivated on them. A shallow-ploughed gravel can stand no excess of weather, however enriched by manure.
It is burnt up by a day or two of drought, and it is almost equally injured by an excessive fall of rain, unless the pan or firm bottom, which such soils easily gain, be frequently broken through by deep ploughing.
Uses of different Soils.
Clayey soils, when sufficiently enriched with manures, are naturally well qualified for carrying crops of wheat, oats, beans, and clover; but are not fitted for barley, turnips, potatoes, etc., or even for being kept under for grass longer than one year. Such soils ought to be regularly summerfallowed once in six, or at least once in eight years, even when they are comparatively in a clean state, as they contract a sourness and adhesion from wet ploughing, only to be removed by exposure to the sun and wind during the dry months of summer.
Soils of this kind receive little benefit from winter ploughing, unless so far as their surface is thereby presented to the frost, which mellows and reduces | farms, tillage forms the prominent branch of work; them in a manner infinitely superior to what could be accomplished by all the operations of man.
Still they are not cleaned or made free of weeds by winter ploughing; and therefore this operation can only be considered as a good means for procuring a seed-bed, in which the seeds of the future crop may be safely deposited. Hence the necessity of cleansing clay soils during the summer months, and of having always a large part of every clay farm under summer fallow. All clayey soils require great industry and care, as well as a considerable portion of knowledge in dressing or management, to keep them in good condition; yet when their natural toughness is got the better of, they always yield the heaviest and most abundant crops. One thing requisite for a clayey soil, is to keep it rich and full of manure; a poor clay being the most ungrateful of all soils, and hardly capable of repaying the expense of labor, after being worn out and exhausted. A clayey soil also receives, comparatively, small benefit from grass; and when once allowed to get into a sterile condition, the most active endeavors will with difficulty restore fertility to it after the lapse of many years.
Upon light soils the case is very different. These flourish under the grass husbandry; and bare summer fallow is rarely required, because they may be cleaned and cropped in the same year, with that valuable esculent, turnip. Upon light soils, however, wheat can seldom be extensively cultivated; nor can a crop be obtained of equal value, either in respect to quantity or quality, as on clay sand loams. The best method of procuring wheat on light lands, is to sow upon a clover stubble, when the soil has got an artificial solidity of body and is thereby rendered capable of sustaining the grain till it arrives at maturity. The same observation applies to soils of a graveily nature; and upon both barley is generally found of as great benefit as wheat.
Thin clays and peat earths are more friendly to the growth of oats than of other grains, though in favorable seasons a heavy crop of wheat may be obtained from a thin clayey soil, when it has been completely summer-fallowed and enriched with dung. A first application of calcareous manure is generally accompanied with great advantage upon these soils; but when once the effect of this application is over, it can hardly be repeated a second time, unless the land has been very cautiously managed after the first dressing. Neither of these soils is friendly to grass, yet there is a necessity of exercising this husbandry with them, because they are incapable of standing the plough more than a year or two in the course of a rotation. Wheat ought to be the predominant crop upon all the rich clays and strong loams, and light soils of every kind are well qualified for turnips, barley, etc. Upon the thin and moorish soils, oats must necessarily preserve a prominent rank, and grass seeds may be cultivated upon every one of them, though with different degrees of advanfage, according to the natural and artificial richness of each soil, or to the qualities which it possesses for encouraging the growth of clover, in the first instance, and preserving the roots of the plant afterwards. Operation of Tillage. and, according to the perfection or imperfection with which it is executed, the crops of the husbandman, whether of corn or grass, are in a great measure regulated.
Tillage, in the early ages, was performed by hand labor; but, in modern times, the plough has been the universal instrument used for executing this necessary and important branch of rural work.
In no other way can large fields be turned over, because the expense of digging with the spade, the only other method of turning over the ground, would much exceed any profit that can be reaped.
Stones lying above or below the surface are the most formidable obstruction to perfect tillage.
On stony ground, the work is not only imperfectly executed, but in many cases the implement is broken to pieces, and a considerable portion of time lost before it is repaired and put in order.
The removal of stones, therefore, especially of such as are below the surface, ought to be a primary object with every agriculturist; because a neglect of this kind may afterwards occasion him considerable loss and inconvenience.
To drain the ground, in other words, to lay it dry, also facilitates tillage exceedingly; for ploughing cannot be performed with advantage where either the surface or subsoil is wet.
Best Mode of Tillage.
The only sure and certain way by which the soil is cleaned or rendered free of weeds, is by ploughing in the summer months, when the ground is dry, and when, by the influence of the sun and air, the weeds may be destroyed with facility.
Seldom at any other period is the soil much benefitted by ploughing, unless so far as a seed-bed is thus procured for the succeeding crop; and though the situation or state of the ground, when these intermediate ploughings are bestowed, is of importance in judging of their utility, yet the radical process of summer fallow cannot, by any means, be altogether dispensed with. Though, if the winter and spring ploughings are executed under favorable circumstances, and plenty of manure is at hand, it may be delayed for a greater number of years than is otherwise practicable, if good husbandry is to be maintained.
Without summer fallow, or, which is the same thing, without working the ground in the summer months, perfect husbandry is unattainable on all heavy or cold soils, and upon every variety incumbent on a close or retentive bottom. To keep his land clean will always be a principal object with every good farmer; for if this is neglected, in place of carrying rich crops of grain or grass, the ground will be exhausted by crops of weeds. Where land is foul, every operation of husbandry must be proportionably non-effective; and even the manures applied will, in a great measure, be lost.
The necessity of summer fallow depends greatly upon the nature and quality of the soil; as, upon some soils, a repetition of this practice is less frequently required than upon others. Wherever the soil is incumbent upon clay or till, it is more disposed to get foul, than when incumbent upon a dry gravelly bottom; besides, wet soils, from being ploughed in winter, contract a stiffness which lessens the pasture of artificial plants, and prevents them from receiving sufficient nourishment. When land of a day gravelly bottom gets foul, it may easily be cleaned without a plain summer fallow; since crops, such as turnips, etc., may be substituted in its place, which, when drilled at proper intervals, admit of being ploughed as often as Tillage is an operation whereby the soil is either cleared from noxious weeds, or prepared for receiving the seeds of plants cultivated by the husbandman. When this operation is neglected, or even partially executed, the soil becomes foul, barrex, and unproductive; hence, upon arable | necessary; whereas wet soils, which are naturally